Let’s face it. As trendy-technology-obsessed students, we rack up a lot of cell phones when trying to stay on top of the all the latest gadgets. Instead of storing all of the old devices in drawers, we can now put them to good use.

The Women’s Center is putting on their annual cell phone drive for Safe House, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault in Washtenaw County.

Jessica Klein, program coordinator at the Women’s Center, has seen a large outpour of support from students every year in September when the cell phone drive starts.

“We usually end up seeing anywhere between 100-150 phones every year,” Klein said.

Any cell phone, old, new, broken or working will be a fine candidate for donation. And to make matters easier for students, you don’t have to bother with deleting all of your information out of the cell phone because all cell phones will be swiped clean of all information, said Klein.

“The [cell phones] are deprogrammed so every piece of information, personal or otherwise, is taken out so no one has to worry about that and they are given to the women in the shelter to dial 911 only,” she said.

Although sophomore Justn Beaudrie won’t be donating a cell phone at this year’s cell phone drive, he definitely realizes its importance and encourages other students to do so, either now or in the future.

“The cell phone drive is a good thing because it’s for a good cause and I think it’s a good idea because everybody has a cell phone lying around in their room somewhere,” Beaudrie said.

Donators can drop off their cell phones in boxes, but if you have chargers or other accessories to go along with your phones, the Women’s Center will take those as well.

The drive lasts until Sept. 30, but after the drive, the Women’s Center still accepts cell phone donations all year.

“Anything you can do to help out the community is really rewarding and we are really appreciative and so is the Safe House Center,” Klein said.

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